


Happiness: rising earlier than the others, puttering softly and quieting the beasts

by blueberry



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Developing Friendships, Gen, Human Experimentation, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-29 17:38:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19405003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueberry/pseuds/blueberry
Summary: They left the remnants of their extended family behind only a few days ago, and Ken and Mukuro are still getting to know each other. For example, in little details like Mukuro's red eye glowing in the dark.





	Happiness: rising earlier than the others, puttering softly and quieting the beasts

**Author's Note:**

> Inspiration and title from a list of prompts called "75 Things to be Happy About".
> 
> But uh, in this case ... happiness is relative.

  
It turned out that Mukuro's red eye glowed in the dark.  
  
Ken's brain got that far, then his heels hit the floor and shoved him away from the face hovering an inch above his, keeping his side pressed defensively against the wall. He whimpered.  
  
Mukuro stayed kneeling at the same spot where he'd been kneeling over Ken, and was watching him in that interested way he had. "You were twitching."  
  
"Hrrmm?" Ken wasn't quite awake yet.  
  
"You were twitching in your sleep," Mukuro said. "Your hands and feet. Were you having a nightmare?"  
  
"Uh-uh," Ken said, and then tried to remember if he had been having a nightmare. He didn't want to be any trouble, but Mukuro wouldn't want him to lie.  
  
"Should we steal some more sedatives?" Mukuro asked.  
  
Ken woke up a little more. "I don't like those."  
  
"They're good for you."  
  
"But in the lab, they always gave us—"  
  
"Hmm," said Mukuro, which meant that he needed quiet so he could think. Ken snapped his mouth shut. Eventually, Mukuro looked Ken over again in a considering way. "Tell me, what you were dreaming of?"  
  
It was difficult to remember with Mukuro looking at him expectantly and Ken unsure about how to keep from disappointing him, and the noise of cars passing by the empty warehouse making him feel like someone might find them any second. They were too close to people - too close to grown-ups, and he couldn't forget what Mukuro had told them about the other Estraneo grown-ups looking for them.  
  
He looked away, a whine climbing up his throat. "I-I dunno! I can't remember!"  
  
Mukuro crouched in front of him, and Ken looked up and saw with great relief saw that Mukuro looked as calm and friendly as always, and his trident was out of sight. "Relax. Think a little harder, Ken, and then you can tell me."  
  
He nodded, smiling back, and as he thought looked at Mukuro's red eye. It seemed to remind him...  
  
"Forest. There was a forest. And then - I was with all these other... Others. Their eyes weren't your colour, but theirs were bright in the dark too. I - running." He looked at his palms and his feet, but there weren't any scratches from the forest floor. It felt like there should have been. The smell of it all had been so good and so real.  
  
"I'm not supposed to be like that without the wolf channel!" he said in a wail, clapping a hand to his mouth as if he might feel the fangs.  
  
"Maybe you don't really need that," Mukuro said, thoughtful and wondering, and maybe a little angry.  
  
Ken stared at him, crouching down. Why was he getting mad? Was he going to bring out his trident?  
  
"Animals twitch in their sleep. I've watched cats and dogs do it often. They dream of hunting. Wasn't that what you were doing?"  
  
Ken wanted to bite him. The urge to leap built up in his legs, and there was growing pressure in his jaw. "I'm just a _kid_. They didn't turn me into a _real_ wolf," he explained tearfully, wretchedly glad that he could hear Chikusa's regular, sleepy breathing at the far end of the warehouse.  
  
"No," said Mukuro, "Not a real wolf. But I don't think you're human anymore, either."  
  
Ken flinched, gasping in musty air, and wondered what he was now, and if it was important enough to matter, to keep. Not to hurt. But ... now Mukuro was just looking at his own hands. He didn't look like he was trying to make fun of Ken, and he didn't have the sharp smell of real anger.  
  
Then he looked up and smiled at Ken. The smile seemed like it had had to break through a lot of other things first, and as if it had hurt.  
  
"Aren't you lucky," Mukuro said.


End file.
